With Hard Work, Walker Joins Elite NBA Point Guards

Kemba Walker #15 of the Charlotte Hornets reacts after defeating the Los Angeles Lakers 117-113 during their game at Spectrum Center on December 20, 2016 in Charlotte, North Carolina. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Streeter Lecka / Getty Images)

This was 10 hours before Randy Foye hit a three-point shot at the buzzer at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Ten hours before Kemba Walker raced out to defend Foye, arms up, only to walk silently off the court Monday night as the Nets celebrated like they'd won the NBA title.

The NBA season is a long journey and, after arriving with the Charlotte Hornets on Christmas night, here was Walker pulling off his sneakers after the morning shoot around at the National Basketball Players Association headquarters in Manhattan.

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Next to Walker sat teammate Jeremy Lamb, teammates, too, when Walker authored the greatest individual season in UConn basketball history in 2011.

"What Kemba did last summer is what he has done every summer since he has been here and probably had done every one his whole life," Hornets coach Steve Clifford said. "He has gotten better.

"He uses the offseason wisely. He picks two or three things to work on. He is a very serious-minded player. He has gotten better every year in the league. That's what the best players do. Range-shooting, his pick-and-roll game and now he has put himself in a place where he is viewed as one of the top point guards in the league."

Back in Charlotte, N.C., the Hornets organization used Monday to launch an All-Star campaign for Kemba in a brief video spoof of the old TV series, "Walker, Texas Ranger." Frank Kaminsky, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Hornets broadcaster Steve Martin are in it with Walker. Spencer Hawes sings the theme song of "Walker, Charlotte Ranger." It's good stuff. Ultra-lanky Kaminsky in a bolo tie is laugh-out-loud funny.

"It definitely would be an honor to be an All-Star," Walker said before he scored 18 points in the 120-118 loss to the Nets. "But I have no say in it. It's not up to me. It's up to the fans and coaches. We'll see."

It's more than the fans this time around. NBA players (25 percent) and selected media (25 percent) will have a role in selecting the 2017 All-Star Game starters. Fan votes will carry 50 percent. The NBA head coaches will continue to select the reserves. Voting started Christmas and starters will be announced Jan. 19 on TNT. The game, moved from Charlotte because of the North Carolina transgender bathroom law, will be held in New Orleans on Feb. 19.

Last season, guards Kyle Lowry and Dwayne Wade were voted by the fans as East starters. Jimmy Butler and John Wall were selected as reserves. Walker didn't get there. He was deserving. Add the Celtics' Isaiah Thomas and the competition is strong again this season. But this time there should be no doubt for Walker. Averaging 22.3 points a game, controlling games for a team with the fourth best record in the Eastern Conference, absolutely he is an All-Star.

To understand Walker's evolution into an elite NBA player, one must follow the trajectory of his shot and ability to play the pick-and-roll. Walker always has had an incredible handle. He always has been fearless. He was always blinding quick, able to break ankles with his crossover dribble.

Yet in his first four years in the NBA, Walker's three-point percentage was 30.5, 32.2, 33.3 and 30.4. From shorter range in college, it went 27.1, 33.9 to 33.0. A collective 31.8 percent three-point percentage in his first four NBA years made him one of the worst high-volume shooters in the league. He was inefficient, sometimes scattershot.

It isn't often that a player deep in his career would so markedly improve his deep-range shooting, but that is precisely what Kemba has done. Assistant coach Bruce Kreutzer, brought in by the Hornets after the 2014-2015 season, helped changed Walker's shot. He helped change his career. Kreutzer filmed Walker's shot. Kemba's elbow flared. He needed to tuck it in more for starters.

In an in-depth look by Sports Illustrated, Rob Mahoney explained how Kreutzer detected Walker drifting backward on his release as a result of jumping off his heel. He got Walker to stay on the balls of his feet. There also was a small adjustment to Walker's shot pocket. When Walker was releasing the ball, it was in front of his face, so he moved it over to the right a few inches.

A few inches and a whole lot of work meant everything. Walker jumped from 30.4 percent in 2014-2015 to 37.1 percent last season and to 41.1 percent through 30 games this season. He has become one of the game's more dangerous three-point threats, especially off the dribble. Good grief, who knew we'd use Kemba's name in the same sentence as Stephen Curry?

"I think those numbers this year [2.6 threes made on 6.4 threes taken a game] are just evolving off last year," Walker said. "It's continuing to put in the work. That's all I know. I just work. I try to improve for my team. I feel like I definitely get better every year and it's been that way for a long time. It's nothing new."

The increased accolades are. The Knicks' Derrick Rose called Kemba "great" the other day. Walker's teammate Marvin Williams told Bleacher Report that Walker is the quickest dude he has ever seen on a basketball court.

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"Kemba has improved his jump shot and his range," UConn coach Kevin Ollie said. "Just understanding the game, I think that's definitely improved. They've got to play the jump shot and that makes him more lethal with his great ball-handling skills.

Kemba being confident is big, understanding that's his team."

Walker turned to another Hornets assistant, Steve Hetzel, to build that understanding. The NBA is a pick-and-roll league and the Hornets employ it more than most. Learning how to read screens, how to create separation, how to find your man with a pass coming off a roll, these are arts that a point-guard must learn. Being able to hit the outside jumper is key. It doesn't allow defenders to sag off him, to come under the screen. UConn fans know what Walker does to defenders who overcommit on him. He blows off their doors.

"It's all about the reads," said Walker, who gathers with Hetzel regularly to examine film of opponents' pick-and-roll defenses. "It's all about the pace. It's all about how teams play you. I've pretty much adjusted to how teams play. Like when I draw two defenders, I want to make the best play possible. I want to get rid of the ball and that opens things up for my teammates. Being in the league six years, things have kind of slowed down for me."

Walker has always had a sweet pull-up shot. It is an added weapon. Instead of challenging the NBA giants, he's learning to restrict his mad drives to the hoop to when he is sure he is past defenders or able to draw contact fouls. Yes, it takes time to be a master craftsman at running the point in the NBA.

"I never played at his level," said Ollie, primarily a reserve point guard for 11 teams in 13 NBA seasons. "For him, it takes awhile to get there. You've got veterans. You've got different personalities. You've got to coexist with all that, but you also have to lead.

"He's doing that at a high level now. Pressure goes along with that, too, but I think Kemba understands it's a great opportunity to be a great leader. He's absorbed and embraced it. Not only his teammates, his organization, I think his fan base believes in Kemba. I think he feeds off that stuff. He keeps on playing like this and they keep winning, he's definitely a lock for All-Star."

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Yes, most everything is going well these days, except his 5-6 UConn Huskies.

"Oh, man, we are definitely struggling right now," Walker said. "It happens. A lot of college teams go through rough times. We'll be all right."

There's a thing called Real Plus-Minus — a sort of basketball version of baseball's Wins Above Replacement (WAR). Walker has been running fifth in the NBA right behind Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Lowry and Curry.

So, one reporter asked Clifford, can Walker be the best player on a championship team?

"I don't think you can say somebody is the best player on a championship team until they do it," Clifford said. "That's more media driven, SportsCenter stuff. I don't think any coach looks at things that way. To be the best player on a championship team, you're talking superstar. Right now, what I think he's done is put himself at an All-Star level. He's our best player. He's a great competitor. He brings a ton of intangibles. All the other stuff has to play out."